Fear Factory – Demanufacture

Definitely needs a vinyl repress. Weird that Roadrunner have only released a CD for its 25th anniversary...

Easily one of my favourite albums of all time, regardless of genre. The album is the perfect mix of aggressive, industrial metal with just the right amount of electronic elements (droning, sfx) to improve each song. Great purchase!

“A landmark of '90s metal” “A game changer”

Some very apt quotes to describe one of thee pioneering metal albums of the last 20+ years. In it’s entirety Demanufacture is at heart a concept album, one of a man’s struggle against the tyranny of a robotic government in some far flung dystopian future scape. Each track is crafted and placed in careful sequence to illustrate a different chapter of his life as he struggles to-at first-survive the oppression, then to lose hope and finally to insight rebellion against his oppressors.

This is as Fear Factory have stated, heavily influenced by the Terminator series which has very similar themes. Indeed this is masterfully demonstrated in the way the songs are produced, from the the machine like relentless drum patterns on every track by Raymond Herrera, and the frantic blitzkrieg assault of guitar riffs from Dino Cazares, backed by the edgecrushing bass lines of Christian Olde Wolbers. All of this is elevated ten fold by the pioneering vocal style and technique of Burton C Bell, as he uses a unique blend of “harsh” vocals to emphasise the cruel relentless oppression of the machines to which he also uses “clean” vocals to display the gentler human side of the conflict, as if using them to represent humanities hope.

Indeed this is a vocal style that for those 20+ years has greatly influenced many other singers in the metal genre far too numerous to mention. To this day the entire Demanufacture album is still seen as a large influence in the genre, with a number of bands trying to (but not quite) replicate the sound and more importantly the impact of Fear Factory’s magnum opus.

this is just one of the best albums ever. every song is killer.

Industrial started in the 80s and Ministry's "Psalm 69" had already been out for years, so it's not like they were doing anything new. What was unique was mixing singing and death metal vocals, their expert crafsmanship and tightness of playing and their sound. IMHO it's those things combined with some cool branding (come on Fear Factory is the coolest metal name ever) led to their "breakthrough" status. If I had a complaint about this album is that it can be a bit too whiny otherwise they handily tackle social and personal issues.

I mean, what can you say about this album, other than how influential and ahead of its time it was / is. Think about it. This is 1995 folks, who was out there pushing the industrial / heavy metal scene quite like this? You get everything a metal fan could ask for on this album. Starts with their now patented industrial sound, Herraras hammering double bass, and piercing snare. Burton's harmonic, melodic, and then bloody screams. This is one of the best heavy metal bands of the 90's, and also one of the most underrated, in my opinion. If you dont have this album, you probably should get it. Its already a classic.

Judging by number of owners of Demanufacture listed on 'Ogs, one assume that its their most memorable album. And one indeed would be right, since not before and not after this album they were able to create something as cohesive as Demanufacture.
FF present vision of technological future in their music- and its not the brightest one. You can almost picture T-1000 rising somewhere out of the shadows of huge factories and dark buildings.
Vocals are generally ranging from death growls (which are somewhat one-dimensional, unfortunately) to clean singing which is done rather well. The only weak track, in my opinion, is semi-ambient album closer "A Therapy For Pain" which goes on for too long. Other than that, you'll be hard-pressed to find better fusion of industrial and death metal.